St. Paul daily globe., 1887-10-02

1t is, moreover, the duty
of all from whom advice
can properly come to exhort and stimu-
late attention in this direction.
There is no one of us who desires for
ourselves or for those in whom we are
interested to merit a classification
among impractical people. Perhaps the
about a man is said when he is described
as always having his head in the
clouds In this situation he is not
available to himself or to any one else
for The practical affairs of life.
The shortest route to the clear con-
ccptlOn of some things is by the way of
a clear conception Of their exact 0ppo-
sites: we arrive at what they are by
means of our grasp on what they are
not. To follow, then, this method of
negative definition, we may be sure of
popular assent if we say that the prae-
tical affairs of life are exactly the oppo-
site of the sentimental affairs of life
The affair that is sentimental is always
by the popular verdict the thing that is
not practical.
POPULAR VERDICT NOT CORRECT.
am convinced that the popular YER
diet is in this case not the correct one,
and If these lines have an object, that
object lies in the direction of con-
tribution towards an effort to show that
the truly sentimental man or woman has
the best preparation towards the prac-
teal affairs of life.
word sentimental has suffered as much
detection from its simple, real meaning
as has the word practical. The latter
has come to stand for things real. the
former for things unreal: or if more
liberal minds deny the strict truth of
this designation they will scarcely at
temp to reject modification of it by
which it is claimed that to follow the
practical affairs of life is to follow the
things which are certainly and surely
the remunerative things of life, the
things about which we actually know,
and whose value is real because it is in
things seen and proven. While to fol-
low things sentimental is to pursue
shadow. or at least thing which, if
attained. does not respond to the de-
mandS of busy and effective human
career.
Nothing could be further from the
logic of human experience Every
achievement has its beginning in the
mind. The Bhuddists were right. All
reality is in the thought. Here is the
root OF the deed. 1t is the man of true
sentiment only who has behind him
career.
These miSconstructionS about the re-
lation to each other of the practical and
the sentimental are constantly and mis-
chieVouSly in force, The other evening
friend OF mine present was comment
ing upon friend of mine absent. Both
are extremely well known to me, al
though not we'll known to each other.
1t was my pleasure to make my friend
present aware Of performance on the
part OF my friend absent. which was
nothing more and nothing less than a
vast expenditure of affection in the
most consequential manner-conseuue
tIal III the widest sense to its object, to
herself. to her family and to a wide
circle OF friends. | was pleased to OBJ
serve that my friend present listened
with absorbed interest, and | was not
amazed when | had finished to hear the
comment: 1T is refreshing in these
days to come across piece of pure
Sentiment.o
Now my absent friends performance
had Its root, 1t Is true, in pure Senti-
ment: but that sentiment took a most
promptly and effectively practical turn.
She felt, and then she did. Feeling
comes always before doug. Love that
is love is intensely practical. The love
that is not practical is not love.
Some one wondered at GOethe'S last
achievement. He said in comment and
reply: 1t is very easy; it is but to per-
celye and then to perform" No one
Will deny that Goethe was an embodi-
ment OF his maxim. The perceiver par
excellence. he was also the great per
former. His maxim is the expression
OF life's logic-first the perception, then
the performance.
AN IMPRACTICAL GJDT
y good mother was lamenting to me
the other day that her daughter. a
charming girl of sixteen, was so unprac-
teal. As an Illustration OF this quality
she repeated to me the question which
her daughter had put to her in all good
faith and sincerity: ''How does a person
know when room has been sWept?''
This young woman needed to apply
Goethe's maxim. She needed per
Faust" or the sweeping of a
room, the same sort of practicality is
required. L do not know what is going
10 be done with her. Her mother de-
sires that she shall become occupied
With the practical affairs of life, but |
am not sure that her mothers ideas of
the practical are sharp enough to strike
at the root of the matter. To become
truly and effectively practical one must
see straight and feel right. 1t is mat
ier OF pure perception and proper SEN
tlment. When this right action of head
and heart ale obtained, the doing will
follow, and whether a book is to be
written or room is to be swept. the
thing in hand will be properly cIassed
among the practical affairs of life.
TIE INFLUENCE OF PREOCCUPATION.
After this it is all matter of preoc-
cupation.. If the preoccupation be an
affair, as i'll the case of my absent friend.
of pure sentiment, i. e., an affair de
cmur, it will, as in her case, deserve
classification among the practical affairs
of life; her vast expenditure of 'spure
sentiment" was accompanied by a vast
expenditure of pure perception, and
prompt energy and good money to the
infinite betterment of all concerned.
Had her preoccupation been the same.
but without the rightness of sentiment
and purity of perception, this affection
of hers would have resulted in mere
waste of feeling and time, and would
deserve classification among those
wretched so-called atfaires de ceur,
which can never arrive at the dignity of
the practical affairs of life.
The mother of the impractical young
girl says, and not without degree of
satisfaction, that her daughter (who can
not understand how person can know
when a room has been swept is s.all for
books" Very well. That is her preoc-
cupatiOn. Now, if to this preoccupa-
tion she brings right sentiment and pure
perception, her preoccupation with
books will result practically. If she has
these, she will know the difference be-
tween clean and unclean in the carpet
OF room, or the character of book.
But L greatly fear that the healthy SEN
tlment and clear perception are not at